


Aim For The Heart, Shoot To Kill

by enjolraspermittedit



Category: Hadestown - Mitchell
Genre: All of that jazz, Alternate Universe - Hunger Games Setting, Complicated Relationships, Death, F/M, Hades is severely fucked up, Violence, this whole thing is severely fucked up
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-12
Updated: 2019-06-12
Packaged: 2020-05-02 02:36:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19190218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enjolraspermittedit/pseuds/enjolraspermittedit
Summary: Hades has turned cold, and he makes those up above go in and fight for their lives. Winning means glory, losing means eternal overtime in Hadestown. Orpheus and Eurydice go in together and plan to emerge together as well. Down below, the gods are trying to work their own problems out. Up above, the fights are even bloodier. In both places, a revolution is brewing. People get mean when the chips are down.





	Aim For The Heart, Shoot To Kill

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I am writing a Hadestown/Hunger Games fic in the year of Rachel Chavkin 2019. It will be based on the full trilogy, rather than just the first book. Shoutout to my awesome beta reader, AGracefulShadow. I recommend everyone who hasn't read it looks up a brief summary of THG just to understand it all a bit better, but I hope everyone can get by without it? It becomes more self-explanatory later :]  
> So here we go, a Hunger Games AU for the 2019 Tony-Award Winner for best musical.

Eurydice was a hungry young girl and Orpheus was a poor boy. Their world had been in ruin for quite some time now, way before the two of them were even born. Some say that gods are supposed to be all-loving and all-kind, and while there may have been some that were, there sure as hell were some that weren’t. When it came to the King of the Underworld, he was either takin’ away the warm season or takin’ away a group of people for a fight to the death. And today, the second of the two was happening.

Mr. Hades hadn’t always been like that, at least that’s how the legend goes. Word says he used to be softer, or about as soft as you would expect for the ruler of the underworld. But then the power got to his head and he started to have issues with his wife, and he also started to care about nothing but his underground city of Hadestown. He insisted that he was doing it all for his wife, for his Persephone; but his Persephone liked it about as much as the mortals up top did.

The rules of Mr. Hades’s Hunger Games were simple. The world up Top was divided into 12 districts, and every year, two random people from each district would be randomly chosen to go and fight to the death. There’d only be one winner for the upper world, but 24 winners for Mr. Hades. The 23 that lost would become shades that could build and expand Hades’s kingdom for him, and the winner would stay up Top as proof of Hades’s power. You see, it was easy to forget the dead if ya weren’t close to ‘em, but the Victor would be showered in glory for the rest of their life. They’d become the wealthiest person in their district. They’d be the living proof of Hades’s power, because the dead proof turned away into the shade before you could even blink.

Orpheus and Eurydice lived in the poorest district, District 12. There was never enough food to go around and people were constantly dying of starvation, which begged the question - what was the point of Hades’s games in the first place, if people were gonna get killed off naturally anyway? Of course, no one ever asked this aloud - even the most desperate knew to never question the gods.

Hades wasn’t the one who chose the people to go into the Games. Instead, he hired messenger gods to visit the earth and Reap the poor souls who’d have to go in and fight. Technically speaking, some people could volunteer to go into the Games, but who would?

Preparing for the Reaping was a simple affair for Orpheus and Eurydice both. Put on the nicest clothes they got and walk slowly to the center of town, which is where the lottery would be drawn. The Reaping was one of the only times that the District actually came together as one. Otherwise, everyone was focusing on themselves and trying hard to stay alive.

In District 12, Mr. Hermes was the one who had to choose the players of the game. Hermes was a good man and a good god, definitely way too good to be stuck with such a soul-sucking task. He also served as a mentor to the two tributes of District 12. Most districts had a separate Reaper and Mentor, but not 12. It wasn’t worth it in Mr. Hades’s eyes. And since District 12 didn’t have any living victors, Hermes stood alone on the stage with the reaping bowl.

The rules of the Games had become harsher and harsher over time. It had always been a fight to the death until there was only one left standing, but everyone’s chances of being chosen had gradually increased. It used to be only a specific age bracket of adults in their prime, but Hades kept on expanding eligibility until they were open to everyone, ‘cept for super young kids. Generally speaking, if you were 13 or above, you weren’t safe.

Orpheus and Eurydice arrived to the Reaping a bit later than most of their district, but not too late to cause any trouble. They caused enough trouble already - secret trouble of course, sneakin’ off into the woods to hunt and fish and collect fruit that wasn’t supposed to be theirs. It was outside of the boundaries of the District, and no one was supposed to cross those boundaries. Word said that Hades was always watchin’ and that he could find out who the possible runaways were, but nothing bad had happened to either of them yet, so they figured it was a bluff.

One of the worst things about the Reaping was the bullshit that Hermes had to recite. He was ordered to stand up there and talk about how this was for the better of the world and the better of the gods. Fix overpopulation up top and underpopulation down below at once, kill two birds with one stone. ‘Course, the whole thing was propaganda, but no one was supposed to admit it.

The thing was, Hades was able to manipulate people _just_ enough for them to think that maybe goin’ into the Games ain’t so bad. You either die or get to live a lavish life up top. Even if ya die, Hades claimed to provide work and shelter and food for the shades of the underworld. Whichever one happens, you ain’t poor anymore.

To add another catch, up top you were afraid to make friends and form relationships in case you ended up losing them. Eurydice was a runaway, having left her parents’ part of the district almost as soon as she could walk. Orpheus was friendly to everyone but hesitant about making connections deep down, just in case...something were to happen again. He never planned to fall in love with Eurydice, but he’d adored the girl ever since the first day he saw her. He’d been working at a little café in the heart of the District, which was probably only still alive ‘cause of Hermes. Eurydice had walked in with the hopes of not freezing to death. No one in District 12 was well off, but Orpheus was ever so slightly more wealthy than Eurydice. And he was more than ever so slightly happier than her. He had dreams to save people with his music, and Eurydice liked his dreams. She was scared, scared of heartbreak and loss, just like the rest of her District - she’d lost people before, to the Games or to nature or to abandonment. But so had Orpheus. Who hadn’t? When Orpheus had asked her to come home with him that night, she couldn’t refuse. And they’d been goin’ strong ever since, makin’ promises that they’d always provide for one another. Now promises like that were hard to keep in their world, but they’d always try.

Hermes’s speech ended, and silence fell over the district square. Everyone from the district was supposed to be there. You could only skip if you were on death’s door, and there’d definitely be people making rounds later to make sure that was indeed the case.

Hermes slowly walked over to the Reaping bowl. He pulled out a piece of paper and cleared his throat. He sighed, looked down, then up, then into the center of the audience. “Eurydice.”

Eurydice felt her blood run cold. No, that couldn’t be right, could it? But of course it was. She felt someone grabbing her arm next to her, as if begging her to stay behind, but she couldn’t - the choice had been made, the deal had been signed.

“Orpheus,” she said, “I have to.” If he didn’t let go of her right now she would start crying in front of everyone in the District (and the cameras, ‘cause of course all this had to be broadcasted to both the under and the upper worlds). Orpheus was already crying next to her, and even Hermes looked a little bit upset up on stage. She jerked away from Orpheus’s grip, putting on her best brave face as she walked up to the stage, standing on Hermes’s left side and staring at the ground. She tried not to think, to just stare down, pretend she was anywhere but here. Needless to say, that was much easier said than done. As if from far away, she heard Hermes start to talk again, so she tried to tune back into the world.

“Well...alright. Alright. Time to choose the next tribute.” Hermes reached into the bowl and recited a name, and it was a name Eurydice hadn’t heard before, so she felt a bit better, until-

“No! Take me instead! I volunteer as tribute! Wherever she is, is where I'll go!” and then Orpheus was running up to the stage, almost stumbling over his own feet, and Eurydice was crying for real now.

“Orpheus! You can’t! Please!” she begged, and she felt Hermes’s hand on her shoulder, but whether it was for comfort or to stop her from jumping off stage, she didn’t know. Probably both.

“You really wanna go?” Hermes asked, his voice breaking on the last word. “These Games ain’t for the sensitive of soul.”

“I do! With all of my heart! I’m coming, too! She’s not going in there alone.”

Eurydice wanted so badly to protest, but it was too late now, and there was no changing Orpheus’s mind anyway. She opened her mouth but nothing came out, although she could feel herself shaking even with Hermes’s tight grip on her shoulder. She didn’t know how he could do this, but she wasn’t surprised in the slightest that he did. She was angry and terrified and frustrated and heartbroken all at once, and she knew in the back of her mind she had to pretend to be composed for the crowd, but she’d already fucked that up, and-

Hermes sighed. “Alright. And so it is. Everyone, the two tributes of District 12 - Orpheus and Eurydice.”

Eurydice wasn't sure how she expected the crowd of the District to react, but what she got wasn't what she expected. They raised their arms up, just like how everyone was taught to raise their cups to those that had passed. She could barely even process what was happening really, but she knew that the tears were coming even faster now, and nothing could stop them. She ran off stage as fast as she could. Her and Orpheus and Hermes would be ordered to go into a car soon, a car that’d drive them to the train station so they could go to the Capitol. She had no idea where the car was, just that she had to get away right now. But as she tried to climb away, someone pushed her into a room all by herself, and she didn't know why. She screamed, and at least she was in private now, where the tears could flow with no judgments given. After a few moments she realized where she was - it wasn't solitary confinement. It was a room where people would be expected to come in and say their goodbyes to her before she was whisked away. She’d forgotten about that part completely. But she had no one except for Orpheus, who was in his own room. She sat down on the floor and took a few moments to try and fail to calm herself, until one of the district’s Peacekeepers came in and told her to get out and go wait in the car. The Peacekeeper didn’t have a drop of pity in his voice, not that he was expected to, as a lawmaker.

Hermes and Orpheus arrived in the car around the same time that Eurydice did, and none of them spoke on the way to the train station. Eurydice stared out the window, feeling Orpheus’s eyes on her but not daring to look at him. She was completely silent as they boarded the train. Not only did she not want to talk, but she didn’t think she’d be able to regardless. A million thoughts were racing through her head, with none of them being coherent. Hermes was trying to talk to her and Orpheus both but she wasn't taking any of it in. The only thing she listened to was the location of her room on the train, and she went in there immediately, planning to lock the door and crawl under the covers and ignore the world. All of those traits were highly out of character for her, but so was her current situation.

She didn't even notice that Orpheus had followed her into her room until she closed the door and saw him standing next to her. She stared at him wordlessly for a few moments, then let out another scream. "How could you? Why did you do that?"

She was _angry_. Angry at Orpheus for volunteering and angry at Hermes for letting him and angry at Hades for playing these Games and angry at The Fates for making it happen and...and...and Orpheus was shaking next to her, so she just pulled him into her arms, and the two of them stood there crying wordlessly for who knows how long.

“I’m sorry,” Orpheus said finally. “Not for volunteering, because I’ll do anything to protect you. But I’m sorry for the situation.”

Eurydice let go of him then, stomping over to sit down on the bed. "We can't tiptoe around facts, Orpheus. We can't...we can't both win." And she didn’t wanna be without him but she didn’t wanna be _with_ him in the underworld. She wanted to be with him up top, even though the world they dreamed about wasn't even close to the one they were living in now. Orpheus hesitated, unsure if he should go and sit down next to her or if he should even _speak._

Finally, he did something of a compromise, moving to take her hand while still standing up. "We could...we could end these Games. Hermes told me all these old stories, about how Hades used to be less harsh, and how deep inside he's still-"

“No. We can’t change the world. We can’t change a god’s mind,” Eurydice said, shaking her head. “And I’m not going to let you die.”

“Well, _I’m_ not going to let _you_ die.”

Eurydice’s heart broke again, and she gestured for Orpheus to sit down next to her. She leaned against his shoulder and he wrapped his arm around her, and the two of them sat like that until there was a knock on the door. Hermes had come to collect them for dinner, and then to watch the Reaping recap, so they could see who’d all been chosen in the other districts. It was about the last thing that Eurydice wanted to do, but she hardly even had the energy to protest at this point.

Hermes looked like he'd been crying too, but he was once again quiet as he lead the two of them into the train's kitchen. Now that Eurydice's mind had cleared a bit, she got to take in her surroundings. It was hardly a train and more like a moving house, way fancier than anything she'd ever even dreamt about. For what it was, it was an amazing thing, and Eurydice felt sick for viewing anything about this as “amazing.” The food was also way fancier than anything she'd ever seen in her life, but for once she wasn't hungry. Still, she knew it was smart to eat, especially considering where she'd be in a few days’ time. The three of them sat somberly for a moment, until Hermes cleared his throat. He still looked like he was struggling to speak and even think.

"I'll do as much as I can for the both of you," he said, but of course that didn’t mean much, because nothing could be done for the both of them in this case.

_Let her survive over me,_ Orpheus thought. _Please._

But of course Eurydice was having the same thought, and Hermes couldn’t do both. And so they just ate in silence until the dessert course, when Hermes spoke again.

"Regardless of what happens, y'all need to prepare for those Games. Training is going to take place over the next few days, both physical and mental. You gotta learn how to work the weapons, and how to work on yourselves to make the audience love you."

But it wasn't about the audience, not really. Sure, the audience back home could sponsor them, but they had nothing to do with who won in the long run. That was up to The Fates, who played as the Gamemakers. Hades had a say in it too, technically, but he preferred to sit back and watch. Maybe if a tribute seemed like they'd be particularly good for the underworld he'd try to convince 'em to go down, but he preferred to let fate take over. He did this every summer, 'cause when his wife was gone he went absolutely mad. He probably had no idea she wasn't even a huge fan of this. She’d told him before, but all of Persephone’s complaints fell on deaf ears. And if he wasn’t gonna listen to his wife whom he really did love, he wasn’t gonna listen to random underworld shades or upperworld people.

The three of them watched the reapings in silence, and no one in particular stood out in their minds, except for a really tall tribute from District Seven. Eurydice figured she would scope everything out properly the next day during training. Watching their own reaping was weird and almost impossible to get through. Not that training would be any easier to get through, of course - not only would she be surrounded by an even greater sense of impending doom, but Eurydice could hardly fight. She was a survivor for sure, and strong enough to keep herself and Orpheus up, but she felt that she’d be the first to go down in a physical fight with a stronger tribute. She couldn’t kill anyone, and yet she’d have to.

“I’m going to go to sleep,” Eurydice said, immediately after the program was over. She’d mostly just said it to break her internal stream of thought. It wasn’t the truth - she was going to lie down and stare at the ceiling, all rest evading her. How she wished she could close her eyes and disappear forever...but she had to be careful what she wished for, given how likely that actually was now.

She nodded a goodnight to Orpheus and Hermes, and went back into her room to change into more comfortable sleepwear. She hadn't packed anything, but she didn't need to - the closet in her room was filled with clothes of all sizes. She settled on the warmest thing she could find, because she felt a chill around her despite the heat of the season.

She barely even had the motivation to brush her teeth and wash her face, despite the fancy high-tech bathroom that was right next to her bedroom. She sighed, crawling under the covers and laying down for only a few minutes, not even closing her eyes. She shuffled out of bed immediately after and went back to the main room, where Orpheus and Hermes were. They were speaking to each other in low voices, and Eurydice didn't want to disturb them, so she moved away and stood by the window, trying to squint through the darkness and guess what District they were in now. She didn't have much luck, all she knew is that she was too far away from home, and she’d probably never be home again. She didn’t want to be. If she ever went back to 12, it would be without Orpheus. She wasn't about to kill herself in the arena or anything like that, but she'd die for Orpheus. She was going to die for him. Maybe Hadestown really wouldn’t be such a bad place to go after all. Maybe she should get used to it early, warm herself up to the concept while there was still a bit of time left.

“Eurydice?” Orpheus asked from behind her, and she jumped a bit, not having noticed him. She peered around the corner to see that Hermes was gone.

"I couldn't sleep," she said. "Sorry." She wasn't quite sure what she was apologizing for.

"I figured so. I understand," Orpheus said. He thought back to the conversation he'd just had with Hermes, in which he’d begged for him to choose her life above his, and they'd both gotten a little emotional over his mama. He decided not to tell Eurydice about any of this.

"I'm still gonna do everything I can do to protect you. To protect us. Even if you say it's impossible," Orpheus said. Ideally, he really _would_ be able to get them both out alive, but at the very least he’d get _her_ out alive. He'd meet the same ending as his mom did. He didn't remember much about her, but he did remember how selfless she was, and he aimed to be just like that.

“Can we not talk about this?” Eurydice asked, perhaps a bit too harshly. She softened her tone. “Listen, it’s just...I just don't wanna be here but I even more so don't wanna argue with you over it."

"Of course," Orpheus said. "Is there anything that I can do?" And it was such a silly question, almost stupid, but still so sweet.

“Did you bring your lyre?" Eurydice asked. "I want- I want you to sing to me." It was the only thing that could make her feel normal at this point.

“Of course I brought it, I take it everywhere,” Orpheus said, “Come here.”

He lead her to his room, where it was propped against the wall close to the door. She walked over to the bed and laid down, trying to focus only on his singing and playing, not even realizing that she was indeed falling asleep after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Oh gods um I think this is my next "big" project...unless people aren't interested, in which case I guess not. If Hades seems too evil right now I promise it'll all make sense later. Worldbuilding is also complicated, which is why I hope everyone has at least a little bit of knowledge of THG, and why I asked y'all to look up summaries in my first note. If you have anymore questions though let me know!  
> Tumblr - rated-r-for-grantaire  
> Twitter - ButchHades  
> Instagram - ThisBrightStar


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